Lukas' Story

Images Captured by Liz Bradley of elizabeth&jane photography 

Meet Tiny Light Lukas. This Tiny Light loves playing with his cars, watching the movie Cars and playing with his puppy. He really enjoys dancing and singing along with his favorite TV shows and country music.

Lukas was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect. He was diagnosed at just one week old. When Lukas was born he had a heart murmur that was loud enough for the doctors and nurses to hear with just a stethoscope. Lukas had a very large hole in the walls between the right and left ventricles of his heart. Fortunately, Lukas has only needed one surgery to date, when he was six months old. Lukas’ recovery was remarkable and just six days after the surgery he was able to go home with no medication except Advil for pain, which he didn’t even really need!

“We were terrified,” Lukas’ mom says. “Without surgery, Tetralogy can be fatal. Even with surgery there were no guarantees.” Lukas didn’t walk until he was 23 months old and has had some other developmental delays. Even though Lukas cannot carry on a conversation like an average child his age, he can answer questions and has learned so much. He can identify all his shapes, colours, numbers and letters, and is even spelling some words now. 

His parents’ biggest fear is that Lukas will need to undergo more surgeries and possibly be diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, which his older brother has been diagnosed with. However, his family hopes that “Lukas will get to live his dreams and make them a reality. Now that his heart is fixed he could do anything that a normal kid could do.” 

Story Written by Kelsey Walker